How Can We Understand the

Tourists?

Tourists are the main characters in the tourism industry and the tourism industry

exists to cater to their needs.

Tourism businesses acknowledge the fact that their success depends also on how much they know and understand their

tourists.

A professional understanding of the consumer is at the core of the successful business practice in

the tourism industry.

(Goeldner and Ritchie, 2003)

A good grasp of who their tourists are would guide businesses in their operations, marketing and

research, and development tasks.

Clearly, a study on the behavior of tourists is very vital to the tourism industry.

Understanding tourists require a background on psychology and consumer behavior.

Tourism businesses should be concerned with what motivates tourists, how they make

decisions, what they think of the products they buy, how much they enjoy and learn during their holiday experiences, how they interact with the local people and environment and how they feel

about their holidays.

Knowing why tourists travel is the most fundamental question among the study of

tourists’ behavior.

Although it is the most basic question, knowing the wants and needs of tourists in

traveling is a complicated task.

The wants and needs of tourists are often regarded as travel motivators.

Motivation

Something that stimulates interest or causes a person to act in a certain way.

Needs and wants of tourists are seen as the driving force that causes an individual to travel. (Cook, 1999), simply explained travel motivation as the drive to travel.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

This theory by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 work, “A Theory of Human Motivation,”

explains that as humans meet basic needs, they seek to satisfy successively

higher needs that occupy a set of hierarchy.

This pyramid of five levels represents human needs which Maslow further

grouped into two as deficiency needs and growth needs.

Deficiency needs are related to physiological needs while growth needs are related to

psychological needs.

Description of the Different Human Needs by Maslow

Physiological Needs

Need to breath, need for water, need to eat, need to dispose of bodily wastes, need for sleep, need to regulate body temperature, and need for sexual activity, body comfort, and exercise, etc.

Safety Need for security of employment, revenues and resources, need for physical security (safety from violence, delinquency, aggression), need for moral and physiological security, need for familial security, need for security of health

Love / Belonging Need for friendship, sexual intimacy, having a family and need to belong in a group.

Esteem Need to be respected, need for self-respect and need to respect others, need for recognition, need for activity that gives the person a sense of contribution and self-value.

Actualization Need to make the most of one’s unique abilities and need to strive to be the best.

• The Maslow hierarchy of needs is an explanation of an individual’s behavior.

• In tourism, every piece of information that would help the business owners, managers, and staff understand tourists’ behavior is important.

• This hierarchy of needs is used in the tourism industry in several ways.

• First, tourism experts also consider these different levels to be intrinsic factors that could drive a person to travel.

• For example, an individual may join a cruise because of his/her need for friendship. One of the attractions of joining a cruise is the many opportunities it provides its of meeting new people.

• The level of needs would provide tourism businesses a guide in understanding their travel market and thus advertise their products effectively.

• A cruise liner would emphasize in their advertisement the chances of meeting people instead of traveling to new places.

• Second, tourism businesses could come up with different facilities and services with features that attempt to address certain needs of tourists.

• Tourism businesses also uses them as their competitive edge over others. The hierarchy of needs guides them in coming up with specific service that they know would be important to their clients. It may not be a main attraction but it may also enhance tourist experience.

• For example, services that address needs of belonginess or esteem such as elite programs and frequent visitors program or simple tokens that make the guests realize that the tourism business knows them specifically.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Tourist Needs:

Physiological• Tour packages that offer frequent rest stops•Easily accessible food outlets in theme parks•Sleeping shelters strategically located

Safety• Reservation service provided at government-approved agencies or

locations• Cruise ship lines providing medical facilities and doctors• Tour guide services provided in exotic or unfamiliar locations

Belonging• Group tours with people having similar interests and/or backgrounds• Group recognition gained by membership in frequent-user programs

provided by airline• Trips to explore one’s ancestral roots

Esteem• Elite status in frequent-user programs such as gold, silver or bronze• Incentive travel awards for superior company performance• Flowers, champagne and other tokens provided to guests in recognition

of occasions.

Self-Actualization• Educational tours and cruises• Theme parks providing educational opportunities and glimpses of other

cultures• Learning the language and culture before traveling to another country.

Leisure Ladder Model

• This model is developed by Philip Pearce.

• It attempts to explain individual behaviors on the basis of stages in a tourist life cycle which is said to be similar to an individual’s experience of work.

• It is assumed that as the tourists become more experienced, they also become more proficient and effective.

• It is somehow similar to Maslow hierarchy of needs because the model also explains that tourists ascend only to higher needs once lower needs for a tourist experience are fulfilled.

Relaxation and Bodily Needs

Stimulation

Need for basic services (food, space, toilet) for restoration and personal maintenance and repair

Need for excitement and safety (fun and thrill of rides, experience of unusual, out-of the-ordinary settings and

different foods and people)

Relationship

Need to build and extend personal relationships (tenderness, affection, joint fun, joint activities, altruism

and being directly involved)

Need to develop skills, knowledge and abilities (how others see a person and one’s desire to be competent,

in control, respected and productive)

Need to feel peaceful, profoundly happy (magical as if transported to another world, spiritual and totally

involved in the setting)

Self-Esteem and Development

Fulfillment

Crompton’s Push-and-Pull Model

• This model emphasizes that the choice of destination of a tourist is driven by two forces: push and pull.

• The first force, push, pushes a tourist away (from home) and the second one, pull, is a region-specific lure that pulls a tourist towards a destination.

• The push refers to a general desire to go and be somewhere else, without specifying where that may be.

• These are the intangible, intrinsic desires of a tourist to go on vacation.

• Pull, on the other hand, refers to the tangible characteristics or attributes of a destination that are primarily related to its perceived attractiveness.

• This push-and-pull model was exemplified by Lundberg, in an advertisement directed towards potential tourists showing sunny beaches with sunbathers.

• The advertisement promotes a specific location and generates a push force that attempts to pry potential tourists out of their homes.

Tourist Decision-Making Model

• Another way of understanding tourists is knowing how they decide on tourism product/services and destinations.

• Their decision-making process would provide tourism businesses insights to effective marketing and advertising, techniques to effectively reach their target markets.

Schmoll Model

• This emphasize four successive fields which he believed exert influences on the decision of tourists.– Travel Stimuli– Personal and social determinants– External variables– Characteristics and features of the

service(refer to figure 7. page 24)

Travel Stimuli

• These comprises external stimuli that can awaken an individual’s desire or need to travel in the form of promotional stimulation, personal and trade recommendation

• Examples: advertising and promotion, travel literature, suggestions, reports from other travelers, travel trade suggestions and recommendations.

Personal and Social Determinants

• These determine customer goals in the form of travel desires and expectations and the objective and subjective risks thought to be connected with travel.

• Examples: socio-economic status, personality features, social influences and aspirations, attitudes and values, motivations, desires, needs and expectations.

External Variables

• These involve the prospective traveler’s confidence in the service provider, destination image, past experience and cost and time constraints.

• Examples: confidence in travel trade intermediary, destination service, previous travel experience, assessment of objectives, subjective risks, constraints in time, cost, etc.

Characteristics and Features of the Service

• These also have a bearing on the decision and its outcome.

• Examples: cost/value relations, attractions/amenities offered, range of travel opportunities, quality/quantity of travel information, type of arrangement offered.

Matheison and WallModel

Similar to the Schmoll model, Matheison and Wall model also identifies four interrellated factors:

1. Tourist profileAge, education, income, attitude, previous experience and

motivations.

2. Travel awarenessImage of destinations’ facilities and services which is based upon

the credibility of the source.

3. Destination resources and characteristicsAttractions and features of the destination

4. Trip featuresDistance, trip duration, and perceived risk of

the area visited

Five-Stage Model of Decision-Making by Matheison and Wall

Felt need/Travel Desire

InformationCollection and Evaluation by image

Travel decision(choice between alternatives)

Travel preparationsAnd travel experience

Travel satisfactionOutcome and evaluation

Stages of the Buying Behavior of Tourists

Felt need orTravel desire

A desire to travel is felt and reasons for and against that desire are weighted

Information andEvaluation

Potential tourists utilize travel intermediaries, brochures and advertisements as well as friends, relatives and experienced travelers. This information is evaluated against both economic and time constraints and factors such as accessibility and alternatives

Travel decision Stage advancement occurs with destinations, mode of travel, accommodations and activities being selected

Travel preparationsAnd travel equipment

Travel takes place once bookings are made and confirmed, budgets organized, and clothing and equipment are arranged.

Travel satisfaction Evaluation

During and after travel the overall experience is evaluated and the results influence subsequent travel decisions.

Hansal and EiseltModel

• Hansal and Eislt (2004) provided a simple explanation of the decision-making process of tourists. This process is divided into two phases which are described as:

• Planning phase – where travelers decide on the basic parameters concerning their trip. Decisions in this phase are made at home, usually over a significant amount of time prior to the trip. Sometimes initial decisions are subjected to modification or completely revamped.

• Modification phase – during which details are decided. This phase covers modifications made during the trip. Examples are choices of specific sites that were advertised in brochures that travelers obtained from tourist information centers or decision to stay at a hotel whose services are announced on a billboard.

Models describing tourist decision-making process would make a long-list. They have basically the same purpose and that is to guide the tourism industry in understanding

how tourists get motivated in traveling, what things influence or discourage them to travel, and where they

information, and purchase their selected product.

In short, these models have two fundamental roles: to identify factors that influence the decision-making of the tourists and to enumerate the stages of their decision-

making

Tourist Typology

Tourist Typologies

• Refer to classifications of tourists based on their behavior.

• Over the years, the number of tourist typologies has grown. It is an indicator of how marketers have relied on understanding their consumers through their behavior.

• These typologies serve as guide to tourism business owners as to what products, services and facilities should be sold to certain tourists having the same behavior.

• Marketers and planners as well as managers of tourism businesses consider these typologies to guide their marketing, planning, and development and management functions.

• Several tourist typology models were developed by tourism experts and scholars. Some of the more popular models include the following:

– Plog’s Psychocentric-Allocentric Model– Cohen’s Tourist Typology– Global Travel Survey– Pearce’s Travelers Category

Plog’s Psychocentri-Allocentric Model

• Stanley Plog classifed tourists along a continuum with allocentrics on one end and psychocentrics on the other end.

• Generally, allocentrics seeks adventure while psychocentrics seek the comfort of familiar surroundings in their tourism experiences.

Cohen’s Tourist Typology

• Eric Cohen categorized tourist into four organized mass tourist, individual mass tourist, the explorer and the drifter. This is similar to Plog’s model wherein psychocentrics are further divided into organized and individualized and the allocentrics into explorers and drifters.

Cohen’s Tourist Categories

The organized mass tourist•package tour fixed itineraries, planned stops, guided organizers making the decisions•Familiarity at a maximum and novelty at a minimum

The individual mass tourist•Tour not entirely planned by others•Tourist having some control over his/her itinerary and time allocations•Major arrangements made through travel intermediary•Tourist remaining largely within the environmental bubble of home country ways and mixing little with locals•Dominant familiarity

The explorer•Tourist usually planning his/her own trips and trying to avoid developed tourist attractions•Desire to mix with locals but still protected within the environmental bubble.•Dominant novelty, tourist not fully integrating with locals

The drifter•Tourist plan their trip alone•Tourists avoid tourist attractions and live with the locals•Almost entirely immersed in the host culture, sharing its shelter, food and habits•Novelty is dominant and familiarity disappears.

Global Travel Survey

• This survey done in the United Kingdom in 2005 has a more general approach to classifying tourists into adventurers, worriers, dreamers, economizers and indulgers.

• These are based on how tourists perceived traveling.

Adventurers

• Are motivated to seek new experiences• Value diversity• Seek new activities, cultures and people• Are independent and in control• Travel plays a central role in their lives• Don’t need to be pampered• “I feel confident that I could find my way

around a city that I have never visited before.” “I really hate traveling with a group of people, even if they’re people I know.”

Worriers

• Suffer considerable anxiety about traveling• Travel is relatively unimportant to them• Are not particularly adventurous• “Most traveling is too stressful for me.” “I worry a

lot about home when I’m away.” “I have a fear of flying”.

Dreamers• Are fascinated by travel• Their own travel tends to be more mundane than might

be expected give their travel ideas.• Their trips are oriented more toward relaxation than

adventure.• Lack confidence in their ability to master the details of

traveling• Anxious about the stresses of travel.• “I like I have to travel to enjoy life fully.” I like to be able

to impress people by telling them about the interesting places I’ve visited.” “I really rely on maps and guidebooks when I travel to a new place.”

Economizers

• They travel primarily because they need a break, travel is not a central activity for them.

• Seek value in travel• Their experience of travel does not add meaning

to their lives• Their sense of adventure is low• “Traveling first-class is a waste of money, even if

you can afford it.”

Indulgers

• Like to be pampered• Their travel is not a central or important

experience• Are generally willing to pay for a higher level of

service when they travel• Do not find travel intimidating or stressful• “I don’t worry about how much things cost when

I travel.” “It’s worth paying extra to get the special attention I want when I travel.”

Pearce’s Travel Category

• Pearce developed 15 traveler categories based on major role-related behaviors.

– Tourist - Explorer– Traveler -

Missionary– Holidaymaker - Overseas student– Jetsetter - Anthropologist– Businessperson -Hippie– Migrant -

International athlete– Conversationist - Overseas journalist

- Religious pilgrim

Tourist

Takes photos, buys souvenirs, goes to famous places, stays briefly in one place, does not understand the local people.

Traveler

Stays briefly in one place, experiments with local food, goes to famous places, takes photos, explores privately.

Holidaymaker

Takes photos, goes to famous places, is alienated from society, buys souvenirs, contributes to the visited economy.

Jetsetter

Lives a life of luxury, is concerned with social status, seeks sensual pleasures, prefers interacting with people of his/her own kind.

Businessperson

Concerned with social status, contributes to the economy, does not take photos, prefers interacting with people of his/her own kind, goes to famous places.

Migrant

Has language problems, prefers interacting with people of his/her own kind, does not understand the local people, does not live a life of luxury, does not exploit people.

Conversationist

Interested in the environment, does not buy souvenirs, does not exploit the local people, explores places privately, takes photos.

Explorer

Explores places privately, is interested in the environment, takes physical risks, does not buy souvenirs, keenly observes the visited society.

Missionary

Does not buy souvenirs, searches for the meaning of life, does not live a life of luxury, does not seek sensual pleasures, keenly observes the visited society.

Overseas student

Experiments with local food, does not exploit the local people, takes photos, keenly observes the visited society, takes physical risks.

Anthropologist

Keenly observes the visited society, explores places privately, is interested in the environment, does not buy souvenirs, takes photos.

Hippie

Does not buy souvenirs, does not live a life of luxury, is not concerned with social status, does not take photos, does not contribute to the economy.

International athlete

Not alienated from own society, does not exploit the local people, does not understand the local people, explores places privately, searches for the meaning of life.

Overseas journalist

Takes photos, keenly observes the visited society, goes to famous places, takes physical risks, explores places privately

Religious pilgrim

Searches for the meaning of life, does not live a life of luxury, is not concerned with social status, does not exploit the local people, does not buy souvenirs.

Market Segmentation

Market Segmentation

• Market segmentation is similar to tourist typology.

• It is another way of classifying tourists and understanding them.

• Segmentation is a sort of grouping people with the same characteristics such as geographic, demographic, psychographic, and product-related characteristics.

Tourist Market Segmentation

Geographic segmentation

Grouping of potential tourists is based on their location

Demographic segmentation

Grouping is based on the tourist’s gender, age, ethnicity, occupation, income, household size and family situation.

Psychographicsegmentation

Grouping is based on how tourists live and on their priorities and interests.

Product-related

Grouping of tourists is based directly on what they want and need in a particular good or service.

The End